Where can landlords get best return on student properties?

Buy-to-let landlords looking to make decent returns on student properties might want to consider
Scotland – with Edinburgh, Glasgow and Stirling coming out top of a hotspots list.

To make the findings, Zoopla analysed rental data for four-bedroomed homes – the type of property students may be sharing – in 127 university towns and cities across the UK in September.

It identified the the best and worst-performing locations by the average gross rental yield that landlords might expect to get.

Edinburgh came out top, with landlords expected to see a yield of around 6.59%.

At the other end of the spectrum, the lowest rental yields were found around the London commuter belt, with Kingston upon Thames, Hatfield and High Wycombe coming bottom of the list.

Landlords in these areas often face higher house prices, squeezing their potential returns.

Lawrence Hall, spokesman for Zoopla, said: “Parents keen to help their children through the high costs of university may consider the value of buying a property in a student town.

“It also comes as little surprise that with the slowing growth in the property market in the South, buy-to-let investors in the North can get the highest proportional rental returns.”

Here are the top 10 places with the highest typical rental yields, based on a four-bedroom property, according to Zoopla, with the typical rental yield:

1. Edinburgh, 6.59%
2. Glasgow, 6.49%
3. Stirling, 5.76%
4. Salford, 5.66%
5. Belfast, 5.64%
6. Dundee, 5.5%
7. Hamilton, 5.38%
8. Leeds, 5.25%
9. Manchester, 5.17%
10. Aberdeen, 5.06%

And here are the top 10 places with the lowest typical rental yields, based on a four-bedroom property, according to Zoopla, with the typical rental yield:

1. Kingston upon Thames, 2.81%
2. Hatfield, 2.88%
3. High Wycombe, 3.02%
4. Stoke-on-Trent, 3.13%
5. Lancaster, 3.14%
6. Winchester, 3.24%
7. Carmarthen, 3.28%
8. Twickenham, 3.3%
9. Carlisle, 3.31%
10. Egham, 3.37%